HOW ABOUT A NEW HOME BUILT IN SOMEBODY’S BACK GARDEN

A Bristol charity is making some serious moves to help fix the UK’s housing crisis. They’re building low-carbon ‘micro homes’ in people’s back gardens and it’s pretty cool. Just look at John Bennet, 58. He was homeless and living on the streets, but he now has his own space thanks to this pioneering program.

Built using wood chip boxes, John’s new home is one of two houses built by We Can Make in Knowle West.

John said: “We’re literally building our community from the bottom up. It’s giving people different choices, better choices, about how things can be. We are the pioneers.

“No one’s ever tried to do this before. Hopefully what we’ve done is make it easier for everyone else who comes after. This could be the future for a lot more people like me.”

For Toni Gray, the dream of owning a home was out of reach until We Can Make came to the rescue.

Before then, she and her daughter were living in cramped conditions at her parents’ council house. She wanted more space but everything was just too expensive. Fortunately,

Toni’s parents stepped up to help by letting them build a two-bedroom home in their back garden. Now, this young mum has the place she and her daughter have been dreaming of—thanks to We Can Make!

Melissa Mean, director of We Can Make, said: “The UK seems permanently stuck in a housing crisis. Instead of relying on big commercial developers to fix a problem they helped create, WeCanMake shows another way is possible – about what can happen when the power and resources to make good homes are put in community hands.

“Our two homes in Knowle West are just the start. Our toolkit for unlocking micro-sites through community-led opt-in densification is designed so other neighbourhoods can use it. Imagine 33,000 new affordable homes across the country – all inserted exactly where people need them most – helping elders to downsize, and ease pressure on overcrowded families.

“It opens up a new way to scale with real impact, one where communities are in control.”

The plan for Knowle West council estate in Bristol, created by the community-led housing land trust, has just been approved by Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Michael Gove.

This exciting development will result in 150 additional homes being built across a 5,000 home-estate − representing an uplift of three percent. Cabinet Member for Housing Bristol City Council, Cllr Tom Renhard, expressed his delighted at this transformative development saying: “As a council, Bristol recognises that we need to go beyond ‘business as usual’ in order to tackle the housing crisis.”

“We Can Make offers an innovative and additional way to unlock land and deliver high quality, affordable homes where people need them most. We think it is an approach that can scale-up, both in Bristol and in helping set a new model for estate regeneration across the UK.”

The charity estimates that its scalable model for building homes in existing council sites could result in a further 33,000 affordable homes being built across England - creating a real solution to Britain’s housing crisis.

The low-carbon homes are made from woodchip building blocks, which can be slotted together on site.

Jonathan Lewis, programme manager at the Nationwide Foundation said: “To combat the housing crisis, we need innovation and flexibility. We’re proud to fund and support WeCanMake.

“Often, projects that test completely new solutions are seen as a risk the first time they’re tried. We’re confident that the homes in Knowle West, and the people living in them, are tangible proof that this model works.

“The next step is to shout about what has been achieved and take the learning to other areas so that more affordable, decent homes can be created for and by local communities.”